


And a Flat on Intai'sei

by Reddwarfer



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 20:17:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/299653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reddwarfer/pseuds/Reddwarfer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war is over and Shepard's learning to adjust.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And a Flat on Intai'sei

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Selkit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selkit/gifts).



> Thanks so much to Inksheddings for the beta. There was a wealth of options on your signup and I went for the one closest to my heart as well. (Also, I recently read Revan and would have ended up cribbing from it too much with your prompt.) Anyhow, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

It's when Shepard finds herself contemplating the contents of her SPAM email— _Tired of the finality of genetic incompatibility? Visit the ISCO Center and expand your interspecies family._ —that it occurs to her that they've won. She glances over to the bed where Garrus is sleeping and back to the email, a ball of hysteria bubbling inside of her until she's giggling uncontrollably.

"Shepard," Garrus says, tone wary. "I think I've missed the joke."

The improbability of winning, of surviving, strikes her at the oddest of moments, in the oddest of ways.

"It's nothing," she says, trying to calm back down. "Let's go back to bed."

Garrus' expression is skeptical, and then he gazes at the email she was reading and it switches over to surprise. "Is there something you've been wanting to tell me?"

"No!" Shepard says, then again more softly. "No. I think the lack of sleep over these past few months is catching up with me."

Nodding, Garrus takes her hand. "Ah. We should go back to sleep, then. If you're having trouble sleeping, I could, uh, try to...wear you out?"

Shepard doesn't think she'll ever get tired of Garrus' awkward attempts at seduction. She smiles at him, slyly, and lets him lead her back to their bed.

She strips out of her clothes as Garrus, who hadn't redressed, reclines on his back, up against the headboard. She grips his shoulders, kneeling above him, as they shift to accommodate each other.

It's not easy, sex with Garrus, but it's worth it.

His fingers trail over the sensitive skin of her back as she presses her forehead against his.

"Shepard," Garrus says, low and breathy. She loves the way her name sounds falling from his mouth, almost reverent.

She cants her hips forward, taking as much of him inside of her as she can. He's big, even for Turian standards—or so Mordin tells her—and it's taken some getting used to. Now, her body adjusts more readily to his, and it makes her happy in a way she never expected.

"I...Shepard," Garrus sighs against her cheek. "I..."

Pulling back to look at him, Shepard smiles and places a kiss on his forehead. "Garrus," she murmurs and comes helplessly in his arms.

He ducks his head, resting his face against her shoulder as he continues to thrust inside of her. She gently caresses his fringe and shifts further up to accept the force of his release.

She ducks into the bathroom after she catches her breath to clean up and gratefully crawls back into Garrus' embrace when she comes back. Only a few weeks ago, she wouldn't have been allowed this luxury, so she makes sure to appreciate it now.

"It's hard," Garrus says, after a few minutes, "trying to figure out what to do next."

She doesn't know how to express what she's thinking, how she's feeling, and she's not one to like doing that anyhow. She's not the first soldier to have a hard time readjusting after a war. She's read about it, seen it first hand, but she never actually believed she'd live long enough to even have the capability of experiencing it.

Shrugging, she rests her head on Garrus' shoulder and enjoys the way his talons scrape lightly on her bare skin. "I always figured I'd have died by now. And stayed that way."

"But you're alive. And so am I," Garrus replies. "And that's a good thing in my book."

"I know," she agrees, but she's still staring at a whole long list of uncertainties to which she's unaccustomed. A race of near-unbeatable sentient machines? Easy. Figuring out how to broach the subject of living arrangements with your...Garrus? Hard. "Maybe we should take the Normandy for a short joyride."  
"I doubt the Council would appreciate you ducking out of the Victory Tour they'd planned," Garrus says, amused.

Shepard's far past caring what the Council thinks these days, and it's less a Victory Tour than checking to see who's still alive but she figures turning her crew into vigilantes just so she can have a pseudo-vacation isn't the sort of thing a responsible Commander would do.

"After we're done," Garrus says, hesitance in his tone, "we could maybe visit my sister."

Surprised, Shepard moves to face him, propping herself up on her elbow. "You think that's a good idea?"

"I'm fairly sure she'll like you when she meets you. If not, punch her a few times," Garrus says easily.

Eyebrow raising, Shepard laughs. "You want me to punch your sister?"

"She'll respect you if she thinks you can kick her ass," Garrus explains, and there's a pleased tone to his voice which makes Shepard think Garrus would love nothing more than to see it happen.

"I think I still have that flat on Intai'sei." She lets the words hang in the air, not sure why she says them or what sort of a response she's hoping to get. A few moments of peace with Garrus, crises permitting, is what she's come to expect of their relationship, even after they gave up pretenses and he stayed in the Captain's quarters during the last few months of their impossible mission. Now, she can allow herself to consider more, to hope for it.

"That's good to hear, Shepard," Garrus says, pleased, "as I'm fairly certain the hole I was staying in on the Citadel has been blown up."

She laughs, then, because it's ridiculous. They're ridiculous. The fact that she's survived this long, with Garrus by her side for most of it, is ridiculous. But she wouldn't give it up for anything. "Good. I was hoping I wouldn't have to resort to hitting you over the head with a club and dragging you back to my den."

Garrus' fingers still for a moment, then he laughs and resumes stroking her. "You're kinkier than I'd realized. I'm not sure why I find it surprising."

"I live to keep you on your toes," she replies lightly. "Can't have you getting bored if I become too predictable."

"You do keep things interesting," Garrus says, laughing again. "And there have been times when boring and predictable would have been welcome."

Sighing, she closes her eyes, exhaustion finally catching up with her. "Tell me that again when the most exciting thing we do during a week is watching another Blasto movie on the Extranet."

Garrus nuzzles her temple for a moment, and says quietly, "I look forward to it."

end


End file.
